The Classics
by Bronze Warlock
Summary: CJ gives Danny his anniversary present.


The usual disclaimer goes here. The song is owned by its owners.

Some of you who know The West Wing will get the joke. Those of you who are tracking my stuff may be confused. Don't feel bad.

d&&&&&&

CJ Concanon looked at her husband with a combination of surprise, annoyance, and not a little excitement.

"Danny," she started, trying to formulate the response.

"You don't have to do it, you know." Her husband looked at her from the driver's seat.

"It's not that I don't want to, or that I won't." CJ shrugged. "I just figured it might have gotten old by now, and wondered if you'd like something different."

Danny smiled as he guided the car into a parking spot. "This is something that never gets old. I loved it when it was on the campaign trail, I loved it in the White House, I loved it on our honeymoon. It's like a movie you never get tired of seeing. _Casablanca_'s a classic, _Citizen Kane_ is a classic, _Star Wars_ is a classic, and so is this. Hang on a sec."

CJ raised an eyebrow, as her husband of 12 years came around the car to open her door. "You're telling me that this is on par with _Citizen Kane_?"

"I know a number of people who agree, people whose opinions and beliefs helped shape the world in which we live." He took her hand, and escorted her inside the restaurant. "Besides, it does make me easy to shop for where anniversary gifts are concerned."

CJ rolled her eyes. "Yes that's true. Dinner, a dance and…"

Danny smiled again.

D&&&&&&&

The wall unit which housed the stereo, DVD, TV, VCR, and Ipod charger in the Concanon living room was impressive. CJ had never gotten around to asking Danny how he'd had time to pick up and assemble a "complete multimedia entertainment system" while working in the Press Room, or how it was that he knew which buttons always did which thing. But it had been there longer than she had, and he could tweak every nuance with no manual.

"Danny, I've meant to ask you this for a long time."

He looked up from where he was turning a dial that did…something. "What is it?"

"When did you start putting this together, and how did you find the time?"

Danny looked at her for a minute, as confusion gave way to clarity. "The stereo? I started on it about the time Bartlet started his second term, and as for how I got it together…I looked at it as an extension of my normal job."

"Ah...I don't understand."

"My job is to push buttons to get a response."

CJ laughed. "Nice choices of metaphors, then."

Danny smirked. "It's true. I ask questions, and try to get an answer. Of course, some people, like a White House Press Secretary," he continued, staring at her pointedly, "are deliberately vague, so I have to keep poking and prodding to get anything useful."

She narrowed her eyes. "Sorry I made your job so hard when there were some many things going on that had to be kept quiet."

Danny shrugged, and returned to the dials and buttons. "Don't be. That's what made it fun."

She couldn't hold in the laughter anymore.

d&&&&&&

"You know this really is one of my favorite things."

CJ looked up at her husband. "Mine, too."

The lights were lowered, and the couch was occupied. The CD changer had been programmed for light jazz, and a sense of relaxation permeated the room.

CJ drained the last of her wine, and stood up. "But now, it's time for your anniversary present." She walked slowly across the room to the stereo, hips swaying.

Danny pulled himself out of the fog of wine and swaying hips with an effort. "It's button number 13."

CJ turned to face the man on the couch. "Had it programmed already, did you?"

"What did you think I was doing earlier? It's a classic."

CJ giggled, feeling the wine. "I know, _Citizen Kane_ and _Star Wars._"

"Do you really want to argue the merits of those films at this particular moment?"

"Not really, though I'm curious as to how often they appear next each other in the same sentence, and why it only seems to be in conversations with you."

"Alright then, we'll discuss that, and many other things, but later."

CJ smiled to herself. Danny was getting impatient, and that made things…interesting. Turning back to the giant bank of buttons, she located the one marked 13. She pressed it, and then leaned against the doorway to the hall. A woman's voice filled the air.

_Did I ever tell you about that man who…changed my life?_

_The one I thought…lord, when I saw him walk in the back of that bar…_

Danny leaned back on the couch, smiling as CJ moved her mouth in time with the words, slinking through the room, telling the story…

_You ask me what his name was?_

_Well…The Jackal…_

Danny smiled. He loved The Classics.


End file.
